This invention relates generally to gaming apparatus and more particularly to lottery machines.
Existing automatic devices for accepting wagers on the daily state lotteries presently require the players to wait until the evening drawing before learning the results of their wagers. After the evening drawing, playing activity, and the stream of lottery income during the hours immediately after the evening drawing drop off dramatically because of player's natural distaste for extended delay between wager and result. No lottery machine is presently known to exist which enables a player to place small wagers on any pre-selected number and allows the player to observe the random number generating process on the spot, immediately, and in person.
A need therefore exists for a lottery machine which, among other things, provides: an instant result; is player operable; accepts coin sized wagers; allows the player to select any number he or she prefers; instantly generates a completely random number in a visible, credible and secure manner by randomly selecting some of a plurality of air-mixed, numbered spherical balls; automatically identifies the numbers of said randomly selected balls; dispenses a redeemable ticket in the event of a successful play; and enables the device's owner to ascertain and obtain a record of the device's prior activity.
Many lottery, bingo and keno type gaming devices employ random number generators which feature the visible mixing of spherical balls. In all of them, however, identification of the randomly selected balls depends upon human observation. No reliable system has been invented for automatically identifying randomly selected balls.
It is the primary object of the present invention, therefore, to overcome the aforementioned deficiencies and provide to all economic levels of the lottery playing public, the various state lottery commissions and persons responsible for maintaining and operating the devices, a means of satisfying their respective needs.